What makes Elite Portrait Design different?

You may ask, why is there such a difference in pricing when it comes to photographers? The simple answer is that they are priced differently because they ARE different. They offer different levels of expertise, different levels of professional training, different experiences, and different quality of service.

When looking at hiring a photographer, you want to be sure you are hiring a professional. Why does it matter? My guess that you are having photos taken of your kids or your family because you either haven’t had them taken in a while or you are documenting a milestone of some sort. An age, newborn, 1 year, teen years, or an event such as high school graduation, these milestones are important and you don’t want to risk missing them by choosing the wrong photographer. We all know that cameras today are advanced enough that anyone can take a picture and get a decent exposure. But there is a huge difference between a decent exposure and capturing that persons personality, and showcasing who that person really is. It takes more than a nice camera to create an impactful portrait that will last a lifetime, just as it takes more than a nice paint brush to create a masterpiece.

At Elite Portrait Design, we do not stop at professional photography, we are a full service, boutique photography studio. What does that mean? When you hire us to do your portraits, we are here to help you – all the way through the process. We are your clothing consultants – yes, we will help you plan and choose clothing that will flatter you and your family. During your session, we will guide and pose you. Don;t worry, we understand not everyone has their ideal body at the time of their photo session – we will watch out for you and minimize any concerning areas. As a professional photographer, we are trained on how to do this.

We have often heard “my child won’t smile” – “you’re going to have a hard time” – “I’ve never gotten a good photo of him/her – etc”. As a professional, we have many many tips and tricks that you can do prior to the session to set your child at ease as well as things we can do during the session to engage your child. In our nearly 14 years of being a professional photographer, we have yet to meet a child we couldn’t get a beautiful portrait of. (knock on wood)

Just as we will help you with your clothing choices, we will choose backgrounds, props, locations and times of day to photograph your family that will best suit your specific needs. For example, you have a toddler that naps from 1-3, we are not going to recommend a photoshoot at 2pm. If you are a high school senior and you love warm, natural, country looks, we are not going to suggest a downtown alley for your location. Also, if you are a high school senior in a rock band who loves edgy and dark, we will most likely not be shooting in brightly lit yellow flower garden. We want you to love your portraits so we will do everything in our power to create the look you love and that complements who you are.

After your session, we spend countless hours perfecting your images. At Elite Portrait Design, we retouch every image before you see it. If there was a pimple that popped up that week – don’t worry, it will be gone. If your newborn scratched themselves, or your toddler fell and bruised their head, don’t worry, we will fix it. We want you to see the beauty that we see – not the small imperfections that come and go. We will also enhance your images to create images that would make amazing pieces of art on your walls. Adding artistic enhancements, sun glow, vignette’s, etc. to enhance your particular portrait and style.

Once the images are edited, we will ask you to come back to the studio to view and order your portraits. The reason for this is not to try to sell you more or pressure you into buying something you don’t really want. The reason we do this is so that we can assist you in making your ordering decisions. At Elite, we have also invested in some amazing software to make your ordering process even easier. The software allows us to project an image of your living room, bedroom, hallway, etc onto the wall and add your portraits so that we can see what they will look like in your space, at actual size. We can also create amazing wall art and custom collage groupings for you to display. We are here to help you narrow down your favorites as well as give you pros and cons to your favorite images or show how your favorite images will go together into a grouping. Additionally, we are here to help you determine what is the best way to get the images you want for the best price possible whether that be purchasing a package, ala carte images, or digital files. We want you to love your images!

As an added benefit, we also offer custom framing right here in our studio. Helping you choose frames that will best complement your pictures as well as your existing decor.

So, what do get when you hire a professional photographer like Elite Portrait Design? You get a personal stylist who will help you choose outfits that will photograph well and complement you and your family. You get a professional photographer that is trained at posing you in the most flattering way possible and in finding the best locations for you or your family. You get a graphic artist that is trained in editing portraits to enhance your best features and creating timeless works of art. You get a designer to help you choose the best images to decorate your home. And you get a friend who has your best interest in mind and who loves working with you and your family and creating images that will last a lifetime.